UNIONTOWN (KDKA/AP) — Penn State’s Board of Trustees says several tentative settlements have been made with men who claim they were sexually abused by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

“The board voted to authorize the subcommittee on legal to approve possible claim settlements related to actions by Gerald Sandusky,” said one board member during the meeting Friday at the university’s Fayette County campus in Uniontown.

With that, Penn State’s Board of Trustees moved to close a significant door on the scandal that rocked the university.

Two years after the Sandusky scandal first broke and a year after the former assistant football coach was convicted of sexually molesting young boys, the board approved a resolution authorizing the university to make settlement offers to what it called a number of individuals who have made claims against the university.

So far no settlement agreements have been signed, but the university sees this action as a symbol that progress is being made.

“As far as the settlements go, we have a statement issued on that. We’re just chipping away at getting these issues behind us and every one we get behind us allows us to keep looking forward,” said PSU Board Chairman Keith Masser.

The board says there is no specific timetable to get all this done, but they hope to have it all wrapped up in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, the Board of Trustees also approved a $4.42 billion budget and tuition increases averaging about 2.8 percent for all students.

In-state students at the main campus can expect the largest increase, 3.4 percent, which would raise tuition about $264 per semester for freshmen and sophomores.

Out-of-state main campus students will pay $400 more per semester, although their increase is smaller by percentage. Satellite campus students will see smaller increases.

Harold Hayes joined KDKA-TV in August of 1979 as a general assignment reporter and has covered everything from military operations in the Middle East to landmark local court cases.
His overseas coverage includes Operation Desert Shield in Saudi...